Shrewsbury Town Women boss demands ‘miles better’ response after heavy defeat

Shrewsbury Town Women have been told they must be “miles better” when they make their first home appearance of the season this weekend.

Salop welcome Knowle Ladies to town on Sunday in the West Midlands Premier, looking to respond to their 6-1 defeat at Redditch Borough in their league opener.

It was a difficult first competitive game in charge for new boss Dean Craven, who offered a blunt assessment of his side’s performance.

He said: “We have got to defend better, we were well on top of the game at the very start. They had one chance, goal. They were clinical.

“We were nowhere near it. Reditch will be challenging for the league, but that makes no excuses for us. We have to be miles better than that.

“My worry is we looked like adults playing against kids today, and we can’t have that. We have to be challenging teams like Redditch. We were way off it, there’s no excuses.”

Town trailed 3-0 inside the opening half-hour at Redditch. Katie Doster pulled one back from the penalty spot shortly after half-time, but the hosts restored their three-goal advantage before adding two more to complete a heavy defeat.

“It was a good performance for a couple of the players, which I have told them about, but the rest were playing at fives and sixes out of 10,” Craven added.

“That isn’t acceptable. That lands with me. We were naive, redditch were right up for the fight…but no excuses we have got to be better than that.”